Alternative Recipes for Life Satisfaction: Evidence from Five World Regions

In most cross-national research on Life Satisfaction (LS) an implicit assumption appears to be that the correlates of LS are same world over; ‘one size fits all’. Using data from World Values Survey (1999–2014), we question this by assessing effects differing personal values/life priorities in five regions: West, Latin America, Asian-Confucian region, ex-Communist Eastern Europe, and Communist countries China Vietnam. We indicate values - traditional family values, friendship leisure materialistic political prosocial environmental religious – endorsed varying degrees different parts world, vary whether they have positive or negative LS. Personal provide basis for alternative ‘recipes’ affecting By mean linked set attitudes, behavioural choices domain satisfactions a effect estimate structural equation models which values-based recipes help account large, unexpected differences between levels regions, compared with ‘predicted’ GDP per capita. particular, high priority given America helps unexpectedly region. Deficits attitudes behaviours partly low Europe.